Andhra fisherman drowns; search on for six people missing in earlier mishap in rough seas

Visakhapatnam, July 6 (IANS) A fisherman drowned after a boat carrying four fishers capsized off the Revu Polavaram coast in Andhra Pradesh’s Anakapalli district on Monday.

According to police, three fishermen safely reached the coast. The accident occurred when the boat overturned and the fishermen fell into the rough sea.

The body of the deceased fisherman was washed ashore. He was identified as Chodipalli Simhadri, of Revu Polavaram fishing village.

Meanwhile, search continued for the second day for six fishermen off the Visakhapatnam coast.

The Indian Navy, Coast Guard and Marine Police continued search for the fishermen who went missing after their boat was suspected to have capsized in rough seas.

Agriculture Minister K. Atchannaidu on Monday directed officials to further accelerate search operations. He directed that all measures be taken to ensure the safe return of the missing fishermen.

According to officials, the joint search operation by the Navy and Coast Guard continued for the second day using a special vessel, rescue boat, and a helicopter.

The search operations are being conducted on the basis of information given by Kari Chinna, one of the fishermen who was rescued by a cargo ship.

The rescued fisherman is in the safe custody of Indian Coast Guard. While Chinna is believed to have managed to board the ship, the fate of others remained unknown.

An official said search operations resumed at 6 a.m. on Monday. According to him, first 72 hours of the search operation are crucial. Authorities are still hopeful of finding the missing fishermen alive.

Anxious families of the missing fishermen staged a protest in front of the office of Mechanised Boat Operators’ Association. They alleged that no information was being provided to them. Parents, wives and children of missing fishermen were seen crying and pleading with authorities to provide them information.

Inspector General of Police, Gopinath Jatti, was supervising the search and rescue operations. He visited the regional operations centre of the Indian Coast Guard.

A group of seven fishermen belonging to Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts had left for fishing from the Visakhapatnam Fishing Harbour on July 1.

As the sea conditions turned rough due to low pressure area in the Bay of Bengal, their families had contacted them over mobile phones to alert them. The fishermen told their families they would return to the coast by the afternoon of July 4.

As they did not return and their mobile phones were found switched off, anxious families alerted the Coast Guard and Marine Police.

–IANS

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